Tennis: Seles' mental anguish

MONICA SELES indicated yesterday that the knife attack that has put her out of tennis had scarred her mentally as much as physically, writes John Roberts.

'I think as soon as I'll be able to physically swing a racket and hit a ball, I'm going to go out there and swing it, but I think I'm going to have to deal with it emotionally also,' she said in an interview with the American television network, ABC.

Seles, 19, missed the French Open and Wimbledon and is unable to defend her United States Open title over the next two weeks after being stabbed in the back during a match in Hamburg on 30 April.

A German charged with the attack said he did it because he wanted Steffi Graf, to regain the No 1 position from Seles. 'It's just hard to understand,' Seles said. 'I lost everything. I was always a strong person mentally, and this is just another hurdle that I have to jump over.'